Forward charge

A magical sevens player, Ian Humphreys is the key to Ulster’s hopes of reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals but he has issues with consistency

Andrew Trimble gets the better of Olly Barkley and Michael Claassens during Ulster's win in Bath

B
y half-time on Friday night, with a bonus point already tucked away, all of Ravenhill salivated at the prospect of a second-half feast but an hour later found themselves walking home hungry. Ominous? Not really. In a sense, Ulster have been marking time for three weeks before the serious business of next Saturday.

How novel to reach the penultimate pool weekend and still be in control of your own destiny. By Heineken Cup standards, the arithmetic is straightforward — if the side powered by Johann Muller can take nine points from their two remaining games then they will reach the knockout stages for the first time in 11 seasons. Ulster host Biarritz on Saturday and must prevent them from picking up a losing bonus point. They finish the group with an away match against Aironi and could even be in the running for a home quarter-final.